Article carrier



Dec. 17, 1968 J. VAN PLATERINGEN 3,416,654

ARTICLE CARRIER Filed Jan. 24, 1968 INVENTOR. LAMBERATUS JOHANNES VAN PLATERINGEN ATTORNEY FIG. 4

United States Patent 3,416,654 ARTICLE CARRIER Lambertus Johannes van Plateringen, Wassenaar, Netherlands, assignor to The Mead Corporation, a corporation of Ohio Filed Jan. 24, 1968, Ser. No. 700,223 8 Claims. (Cl. 206-65) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An article carrier comprising a tubular structure having top, bottom and spaced side walls arranged so that the top wall overlies a plurality of articles arranged in sideby-side relationship is arranged to accommodate an article which is taller than its fellows by providing a cover tab in the top wall of the carrier which coincides with the top of the high article and which is secured to the top wall by yieldable holding means.

An article carrier of the tubular wrap-around type is disclosed in Unite-d States Patent application Ser. No. 478,104, filed Aug. 9, 1965, now Patent No. 3,363,752, and is arranged so as to accommodate packaged articles having radially protruding cap sections whereby the associated articles may be arranged at random in the package, the carrier being constructed so as to allow the radially protruding cap section to extend outwardly and underneath an overlying panel section which both restrains and protects the article and its radial cap.

According to this invention a tubular article carrier is adapted to accommodate a group of articles wherein one or more such articles is taller than the remainder of the articles. Toward this end, a cover tab is formed in the tubular structure of the carrier and disposed in coincidental relationship with the tall article to be packaged and such cover tab is interconnected with the tubular structure of the carrier by yieldable means arranged to exert a gentle holding pressure against the top of the tall article whereby the article is held within the carrier and whereby the cover tab is automatically adjusted to the height of the high article within limits. According to a feature of the invention, the cover tab is adjoined to the article carrier by elevator tabs, the fold line between the cover tab and each elevator tab being angularly disposed with respect to the fold line between another elevator tab and the cover tab so as to exert an inwardly bowed configuration to the cover tab. Preferably the cover tab is adjoined to the tubular structure of the carrier by severable connecting means which is ruptured due to the elevating action of a tall article which engages the cover tab but which remains intact if the articles to be packaged are of uniform size.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a perspective View of an article carrier which embodies the invention; FIG. 2 is a plan view of a blank from which carrier depicted in FIG. 1 is formed; FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of a cover tab and its yieldable holding means arranged according to this invention; and in which FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the essential features of the invention and which represents a small area of the blank depicted in FIG. 2.

In the drawings the numeral 1 designates the top wall of an article carrier from which a pair of finger gripping tabs 2 and 3 are struck, such tabs being foldably joined to top wall 1 along fold lines 4 and 5 respectively. Bottle cap receiving corner slits 6, 7 and 8 define outwardly projecting tabs along the side edge 9 of top panel 1. Slits 6, 7 and 8 in reality are struck from the sloping side wall portion 10 which is foldably joined along fold line 9 to top wall 1. Similarly slits 11, 12 and 13 are struck in sloping side wall portion 14 which is foldably joined to top wall 1 along fold line 15 and which define outwardly projecting tabs arranged to overlie the tops of the packaged bottles.

The lower portion of one side wall is designated by the numeral 16 and is foldably joined along fold line 17 to sloping wall portion 10. Similarly on the other side of the carrier the lower portion of that side wall is designated by the numeral 18 and is foldabl-y joined to sloping side wall portion 14 along fold line 19.

At the bottom corners of the carrier, a sloping bottom panel 20 is foldably joined to the bottom portion 16 of One side 'wall along fold line 21 while a similar sloping panel 22 is foldably joined to the bottom portion 18 of the other side wall along fold line 23.

For the purpose of receiving the bottom portions of the packaged articles and for aiding in securing the articles against dislodgment through the open ends of the wrapper, a plurality of corner openings 24, 25 and 26 are formed in sloping panel 20 and similar apertures 27, 28 and 29 are formed in sloping panel 22. These openings 2429 function in known manner.

The bottom wall of the carrier is a composite panel made up of bottom lap panel 30 which is foldably joined along fold line 31 to sloping panel 20 and another bottom panel 32 foldably joined along fold line 33 to sloping panel 22.

In order to tighten the wrapper about its associated articles, a pair of tightening apertures 34 and 35 are formed in lap panel 30 and similar apertures 36 and 37 are formed in lap panel 32. As is Well known in the art suitable machine elements enter the tightening apertures 34 and 35 and draw the lap panel 30 in a direction toward side wall portion 18 while similar machine elements enter tightening apertures 36 and 37 and draw lap panel 32 toward the bottom portion 16 of the opposite side wall.

Once the wrapper is sufliciently tightened, it is secured about its packaged articles B by suitable locking tabs 3841 which are driven through the apertures defined by retaining tabs 42-45 respectively by suitable machine elements.

In order to accommodate a bottle B which is somewhat taller than its fellows, a cover tab such, for example as 12a is interconnected with the tubular structure of the wrapper by yieldable holding means according to this invention. In addition, the cover tab 12a is effectively severed from the tubular article carrier by any suitable severance lines such as is indicated by the numeral 46. The cover tab 12a is interconnected with the carrier by elevator tabs 47 and 48. As is best shown in FIG. 4, elevator tab 47 is foldably joined along fold line 15 to sloping panel 14. Elevator tab 47 is foldably joined to cover tab 12a along fold line 49. Similarly, elevator tab 48 is foldably joined along its right hand edge to sloping portion 14 of one side wall along fold line 15 at its opposite edge to cover tab 12a.

In order that the cover tab 12a may be biased inwardly against the top of the coinciding high article, fold lines 49 and 50 are angularly disposed with respect to each other and with respect to their associated common fold line 15. The bowing effect is best shown in FIG. 3 where it is apparent that the angular disposition of fold lines 49 and 50 results in an inwardly bowed configuration of cover tab 12a.

From FIG. 3 it is apparent that the inwardly bowed configuration of cover tab 12a exerts a downwardly biasing action against the top of the associated high bottle.

Furthermore it is apparent from FIG. 3 that variations in the height of the high bottle are automatically accommodated by the structure of the invention. Thus if an unusually high bottle near the upper limits of bottle height accommodated by a particular structure is packaged, the elevator tabs 47 and 48 approach a vertical position whereas if the high article is of but slightly greater height than its fellows, the elevator tabs 47 and 48 will occupy positions which are disposed angularly with respect to vertical. Furthermore, the downward biasing action of the elevator tabs due to the angular disposition of fold lines 49 and 50 results in snug engagement between the cover tab 12a and the medium height but higher than average bottle.

According to another feature of the invention, severable means such as nicks 51 and 52 may be utilized to form a severable connection between the part of cover tab 12a defined by arcuate severance line 46 and top wall 1 of the container. Of course these severable elements rupture should a tall article be disposed beneath the cover tab 12a and the cover tab becomes elevated to a position such as is depicted in FIG. 3. If on the other hand, all of the packaged articles B are of uniform height, the severable means 51, 52 simply remains intact and serves as a holding means for maintaining the cover tab 12a in the plane of top wall 1.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An article carrier having bottom, top and spaced side walls interconnected to form a tubular structure arranged with its top wall overlying the end of an article disposed therein and wherein the improvement comprises a cover tab formed at least partially in said top wall and disposed in substantially coincidental relationship with respect to said article in the carrier, and yieldable holding means interconnecting said cover tab and said tubular structure for accommodating bodily movement of said cover tab relative to said tubular structure.

2. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein said yieldable holding means comprises at least one elevator tab foldably joined to said tubular structure and to said cover tab along spaced fold lines.

3. A carrier according to claim 2 wherein at least one severable connection adjoins said cover tab and said tubular structure.

4. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein said yieldable holding means comprises a pair of elevator tabs disposed on opposite edges of said cover tab and wherein said elevator tabs are foldably joined at their ends to said cover tab and to said tubular structure.

5. A carrier according to claim 4 wherein the fold lines at the ends of each of said tabs are angularly disposed with respect to each other.

6. A carrier according to claim 4 wherein one fold line at one end of each elevator tab is angularly disposed relative to the corresponding fold line of the other elevator tab so as to impart a bowed configuration to said cover tab when predetermined movement is imparted thereto relative to said tubular structure.

7. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein at least one carrier side wall includes a sloping panel foldably joined to one side edge of said top wall and wherein said cover tab is struck in part from said top Wall and in part from said sloping panel.

8. A carrier according to claim 4 wherein at least one of the carrier side walls includes a sloping panel foldably joined to one side edge of said top wall and wherein the fold lines between each of said elevator tabs and said tubular structure coincide substantially with the fold line between said sloping panel and said top wall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1967 Moore. 1/1968 Chaussadas. 

